The Government Medical Officers Association would submit its position on the bilateral agreement between India and Sri Lanka on Telemedicine to President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the Association’s emergency general committee meeting. "We would consult our membership and all stakeholders before placing the matter before the President," Assistant Secretary GMOA Dr. Upul Gunasekara said yesterday.

"The present situation is that if a patient has a problem with a doctor he is able to complain to the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC). However, supposing a Sri Lankan patient has a problem regarding a medication given by an Indian doctor then to whom will she/he complain?"

He said that the government was planning to sign the agreement with an Indian company affiliated to the government of India. The GMOA would resort to trade union action should the Sri Lankan health ministry signs the agreement disregarding the opinion of the colleges of medicine in Sri Lanka, the SLMC, the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine and doctors’s trade unions.

The Sri Lankan health sector has reached standards on par with services provided in developed countries. He claimed that it would be a set back to the Sri Lankan health service should the government go ahead with the agreement.

Gunasekara said telemedicine was essentially the practice of medicine at a distance which was enabled by technology and high-speed telecommunication networks. However it is practiced by Sri Lankan doctors when getting a second opinion on patients. "Can you imagine patients from rural areas of Sri Lanka resorting to seeking assistance from Indian doctors?

"Furthermore, I seriously doubt if Indian doctors would seek the help of Sri Lankan doctors if it was needed," he said.